


It’s the Little Things in Life

by artificialmac



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Children, Cute Kids, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Lesbian AU, Single Parents, Vanessa is a MOM
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 19:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19302601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificialmac/pseuds/artificialmac
Summary: Vanessa is a single mom to two adorable little ones. Brooke likes kids, but kids don’t usually like her. It is a process to introduce the two, but one Vanessa is willing to make work.





	It’s the Little Things in Life

**Author's Note:**

> All my love to multifandomgeek for betaing and keeping me sane!

Vanessa and Brooke had been dating for a few weeks before Vanessa mentioned it. Brooke hadn’t understood at first and began gushing about Henry and Apollo. Only after a gentle shake of Vanessa’s head did Brooke learn that Lottie and Noah were in fact children, and not cats. Vanessa waited with bated breath for Brooke to respond. The older woman blinked a few times in an attempt to process.

Brooke didn’t dislike kids. Far from it actually. She loved their stupid little faces, and their tiny hands, and how they were just so clueless about the world around them. All of her closest friends had been having kids for a while now, so it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise that Vanessa had kids. Brooke wasn’t upset or mad, (both reactions Vanessa had gotten before), mostly she was just scared. Because while Brooke personally loved kids, they never really seemed to like her all that much. 

When she shared this fear with Vanessa, the younger woman brushed off her concerns, saying that they didn’t have to meet for a little while, and even when they did, her kiddos were really loving of practically everyone.

While this bought Brooke some time, she still felt mentally underprepared when three months into dating, Vanessa brought up the topic again. They hadn’t mentioned it much. They had always just gone to Brooke’s apartment, and Vanessa had left afterwards. An occasional talk of a school talent show, or a soccer game would be as deep as it got. Brooke knew that eventually the time would come when she would have to face this fear head on. 

Their four-month anniversary was when Vanessa asked her seriously about it. “I just gotta know if you’re serious about this, about us. All of us.” She said, knowingly. “Cause I can’t have me falling in love with you if you can’t do the same-” 

It was the first time Vanessa had dared to say it out loud. Brooke could hardly process the rest of the sentence, too focused on pulling Vanessa’s body to her, placing a hundred tiny kisses all over her face as she repeated the three words back to the younger woman. Vanessa finally pulled away to look at her girlfriend, trailing a hand along her cheek. “That a yes? You wanna meet them?”

Brooke couldn’t think of a word any more perfect than yes at that moment.

It’s actually two weeks after their conversation that the official meeting is supposed to take place. Brooke gets off work at around six, provided her employees do their damn jobs for once, and is supposed to meet Vanessa and the little ones at Vanessa’s house by seven thirty. 

The night doesn’t go according to plan. Brooke is still at the office when the clock hits seven fifteen, listening to some investor talk about market projections and margins that she really should be paying more attention to. Her mind kept plaguing her with worries that have nothing to do with her current firm’s projected growth for the next six years. 

_What if Lottie and Noah hated her? What if they didn’t even give her a chance? Would Vanessa still love her if they didn’t? Well that’s a stupid question. Of course not. If you can’t love her kids how can she love you?_ The voice in Brooke’s head chimed in, ever the helpful one. 

She sends Vanessa a text under the table, telling her about the meeting, and apologizing profusely, saying she’d get there as fast as she could. Vanessa texts back a joke about her getting cold feet, that hits a little too close to home to be funny. Brooke could tell her girlfriend was worried, even over text. As soon as the man finished speaking, Brooke sent everyone home and made a beeline for her car. 

Since she was so late, there wouldn’t be time to change out of her suit, but she had on good authority, from Vanessa herself, that it looked good, so she tried not to worry too much. Which for Brooke meant having the worst-case scenarios on loop in her head for the whole drive there. 

But before Brooke could have another crisis about how Vanessa’s kids were for sure going to hate her, she arrived. 

It was a quaint little home in the middle of nowhere. Nothing like where Brooke imagined Vanessa would live. Thinking of her girlfriend as more of a city gal, it surprised her to be all the way out in the country. But it was peaceful, and quiet. The perfect place to raise a family. 

Brooke’s heart clenched at the thought. 

She rang the doorbell, heart in her throat as she waited. She heard a sudden commotion and two pairs of feet bounding closer and closer to the door. She heard Vanessa before she saw her. “What are ya’ll doing? Y’all aint tall enough to even open that.” This didn’t happen to be the case as the door swung open so dramatically and forcefully that it hit the wall behind it, and the first thing Brooke saw was Vanessa’s face scrunched up from the sound of the property damage. 

The next thing Brooke saw was two tiny persons looking up at her. She looked right back at them, unsure what to do with her hand or her feet or her limbs in general. They were beautiful, of course they were, Vanessa was their mother after all, but the light in their eyes was what really captivated Brooke.

“Hey, baby. This is Noah.” Vanessa grabbed the shorter kid and pulled him over with a hand to his head. _He’s the younger one 3, no- four-years old. Brooke thought. Likes soccer and the color yellow._

“And Lottie.” Vanessa tried to do the same to the taller kid. _Lottie, but Nessa sometimes calls her Lots. Seven years old. Likes blue and is the troublemaker, at least according to Nessa. But she is also incredibly smart. Nessa thinks she is smarter than she was at that age._

Lottie ducked quickly before her mom could grab her, and sprinted off into the recesses of the house, Noah following right after her in a run. 

Vanessa looked nervously at Brooke. “Sorry, they aren’t usually like that.” Brooke shook her head to say it was fine, as Vanessa let her inside. “Sometimes, just being around people freaks them out.” Brooke saw Vanessa fighting with her hands, wringing them like laundry. She dropped her bag in favor of placing Vanessa’s hands in her own. The calm exterior Brooke held, gave nothing of her warring interior away, but it was clear she had to be the calm one for both of them tonight.

Brooke gave Vanessa’s hands a gentle squeeze and a soft smile, that was returned in kind. “Hey.” She said softly, getting Vanessa to look her in the eyes. “It’s just me, ok?” Vanessa nods and squeezes her hands once more. Brooke could already see a bit of tension leave her shoulders. 

Brooke lets her hands drop and lets her eyes roam around the foyer. “Did you want the grand tour or something?” Vanessa joked, but it was mirthless.

Brooke nodded encouragingly and followed Vanessa as she gave a nervous, but adorable house tour. “This is the living room, as you can see. It’s a mess, but ya know...” She trailed off. It _was_ a mess. Toys and coloring books and stuffed animals littered the floor. It looked lived in. It looked like home. “And the kitchen, nice countertops and shit. At least that’s what the lady that sold it to me said.” Vanessa was rambling, it was adorable albeit a bit unnerving that the confident Latina ever dealt with emotions the way we mere mortals do. “And the bedrooms-Lots, didn’t I tell you to clean up. We got a guest!” Lottie looked up from where she was placing a fake stethoscope on her little brother and shrugged. Vanessa shook her head disapprovingly but couldn’t help the smile that ate at the corner of her mouth. 

They continued walking. “And this is my room, you may be spending a bit of time here later.” Vanessa let her voice drop to a sultry whisper, as she traced her hands along Brooke’s dress shirt and pulled her closer by her belt loops, till the older woman was flush against her. Just as their lips were about to brush, a commotion from the kitchen made them jump apart. 

“Lots I swear to the lord above if you-“

Brooke stared after her girlfriend with a small smile playing at her lips. She allowed herself to breathe for the first time since entering the house. She also allowed the feeling of relief wash over her.

She hated to admit it, but she had been worried that seeing Vanessa’s “mom side” might make her view the woman differently. But in reality, it only affirmed her already strong feelings for the young woman. Vanessa wasn’t different at home, she wasn’t harsh or commanding, or too sappy and sweet, she was just Vanessa. And the pride and love that bloomed it Brooke’s chest made her sure that nothing, not ever, could take her away from this woman. 

Unless her children hated Brooke.

After dealing with whatever situation was happening in the kitchen, Vanessa poked her head around the door to beckon Brooke into the kitchen with the pretty countertops. There was a plate of cookies and what could only be considered a vat of frosting on the counter. Lottie was using her mom’s turned back to dip her finger in the massive bin of frosting. There were sprinkles of all different shapes and sizes lining the counters.

Vanessa looked nervous. “I thought we could decorate some cookies. If you want?” She was wringing her hands again. “I mean, they are kinda burnt, a bit. Sorry bout that. But in my defense this oven is crap, and-“ Brooke cut Vanessa off with a patient smile. “I’m rambling, aint I?”

Brooke nodded, but gave the slightly deflated Vanessa a reassuring smile. “I like it. It’s cute.” She couldn’t help the lovesick smile that made a home on her face. Vanessa couldn’t help but mimic it.

After realizing how long they had been just standing there smiling at each other like crazy people in love, (which they were), Vanessa broke the silence. “Anyway, let’s start decorating!” She turned to Lottie and Noah, who already had managed to spill an entire bottle of sprinkles on the floor. Vanessa gave an over dramatic sigh and looked back at Brooke as if to say, _‘can you believe them?’_

Brooke could. 

The rest of the decorating process passed in a daze. Brooke couldn’t quite figure out how it happened, but they ended up with three of the twelve cookies broken, all the sprinkles gone, and red icing on the tips of everyone’s nose. Brooke faintly remembers Noah coming at her with his tiny hands covered in red icing and being called Rudolph.

Noah had begged her to sing the song and Lord knows why, but Brooke acquiesced. She sung off key, and way too loudly, but the kids ate it up. Putting icing on the tips of their noses and joining in with their own made up lyrics. 

When she finished her audition for American Idol, she saw Vanessa’s out of the corner of her eye and managed to tear her focus off the still singing kids for a second to see Vanessa looking at the three of them like they were her whole world. 

And in that moment, they were. 

“Alright, enough of that. We gon get a noise complaint. Y’all go clean up.”

Lottie and Noah groaned, and Brooke mimicked them, causing the two little ones to burst into giggles.

“You supposed to be on my side.” Vanessa scolded her. Brooke just laughed.

Lottie and Noah finally made their way out of the kitchen after much prodding from their mother. As soon as they left, Vanessa pulled Brooke into a kiss that felt like home.

Brooke smiled into her lips.

“What you smiling about?”

Brooke wanted to say so many things at that moment. _I love this more than you will ever know. I’m so happy with you. I swear this family is all I want. If you let me, I’ll be the best parent to these kids. I’ll do anything to make them happy. I’ll do anything to make you happy. I love you._

But she settled for, “You.”

Vanessa beamed at her and kissed her once more, before walking her to the door. They made plans for another date, and another meeting for the four of them. 

And as Brooke drove away, she found that she could hardly wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Some Branjie with kids fluff! I just adore Vanessa as a single mom who is so soft for her little ones. Let me know how I did? I don't write domestic fluffy pieces much.


End file.
